iPhone 4S

U.S. retailer Best Buy is set to shave $50 off every iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 sold with a two-year contract with Verizon, AT&T or Sprint in a four-week promotion that kicks off on Sunday, reports AllThingsD. The retailer has previously discounted Apple’s iPhone 5 a few times in time-limited promotions, along with other retailers such as Walmart which last December discounted the device to as low as $127…

This is kind of cool. Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone on a lengthy road trip and found yourself falling asleep while driving. I know I have. Just last month I drove halfway across the country, and I caught myself dozing off on a number of occasions.

But there’s an iPhone app out that promises to make that a thing of the past. It’s called Drive Awake, and it uses eye-tracking technology to keep tabs on you while you drive. Close your eyes for too long, and the app will emit a shrieking audible alarm…

In yet another attempt to capture the nascent smartphone market in India, Apple is now promoting discounts for students. Students can receive $144 on an iPhone when they trade in their old smartphones. Apple and Samsung have engaged in a marketing struggle, both rolling out installment plans to encourage Indian buyers of rival smartphones.

The iPhone maker also announced a cash-back deal when Indian consumers use American Express to purchase an iPhone 4, 4S or 5 before June 10, according to a Monday report…

Apple is widely expected to unveil a new smartphone in the coming months, so it’s no surprise that we’re starting to see a flurry of specials on its older models. Verizon is knocking $100 off the iPhone 5, and T-Mobile will give you one for $0 with a trade-in.

In a similar fashion, prepaid carrier Virgin Mobile USA is hosting a promotion right now that will knock 15% off the price of the iPhone 4/4S. Now that may not seem like a very big discount, but it’s big enough to land you a no-contract iPhone for under $300…

This is kind of interesting. A thread has popped up in the Reddit forums this week regarding some recent changes to Siri. It appears that Apple has quietly updated the digital assistant with a new, quirky attitude toward lengthy queries.

Now, when Siri is asked a question (or given a command) that is excessively long, she will quote famous passages from notable historical figures like William Strunk and Thomas Jefferson on the subject of—you guessed it—brevity…

The iPhone may be one of the most popular cameras in the world today, but it hasn’t always been like that. The original iPhone (and the iPhone 3G) had just a 2MP camera, with no flash, putting the handset well behind the competition in terms of photo-taking.

Since the 3G, however, Apple has made sure to update the phone’s camera with ever iteration. It went from a 3.2MP sensor to a 5, and then to 8. And wouldn’t you know it, someone has created an image showing its improvement in picture quality over the years…

The nation’s second-largest carrier, AT&T, on Wednesday upgraded its cell phone trade-in program at its brick-and-mortar retail stores. The new terms incentivize customers to trade-in their old smartphone for one of the latest models and receive a $100 credit on-the-spot, which can be immediately redeemed against any AT&T smartphone or accessory purchase.

If you have an old iPhone or an Android phone that is less than three years old, the $100 trade-in credit lets you purchase a brand new iPhone 5 for just $99. Or, you could settle with an iPhone 4S wit zero bucks in upfront payment. By comparison, the entry-level 16GB iPhone 4S/5 normally sets you back $99/$199 after a two-year contract…

Five iPhone distributors in China are under arrest after Apple told local police it was the victim of an unusual scam. The plot involved sending fake iPhone 4S parts to Apple for replacement and receiving real components worth more than $64,000, according to Monday reports.

The alleged fraudsters went so far as to accompany the fake components with the serial numbers of more than a hundred real iPhone handsets, police said.

If you’ve been reading the news lately, you’ve probably heard that Apple’s been having some major difficulties in China. Over the last few weeks, it’s been getting bashed by the state-run CCTV network and Chinese celebrities over its warranty policies.

The main issue is that some folks believe Apple provides customers in China with worse after-purchase service than it does in other countries, with reports claiming it replaces their goods with recycled components instead of new ones like in the US.

It has already happened in the United States and now comes word 2013 will mark the date when smartphones outsell simpler so-called feature phones globally. More than 918 million smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone will ship this year, for the first time outnumbering feature phones.

According to research firm IDC, a nice 50.1 percent of mobile phones shipped this year will be smartphones, most destined for China. However, that small lead should widen greatly by 2017 as more emerging nations increase adoption of the powerful mobile devices…

Yesterday came more evidence that the 7.9-inch iPad mini is outselling Apple’s larger tablet. The findings show increasing sales of the iPad mini amid declining demand for the 9.7-inch iPad. Between December and January, shipments of 9.7-inch panels (such as the iPad) fell from 7.4 million to 1.3 million units. In contrast, shipments of 7.9-inch display panels rose to more than five million units, according to the findings by hardware research firm NPD DisplaySearch that echo recent supply chain chatter.

The changing levels of demand suggests consumers prefer the smaller footprint of smaller tablets. However, this faster adoption of the iPad mini over its big brother is causing analysts to revise expectations for 2013 tablet sales…

Just as investors are (again) punishing the Apple stock on talk of Foxconn freezing recruitment in China amid weakening iPhone 5 demand (or perhaps because the iPhone 5S is entering production in March?) comes a new survey of the smartphone market by research firm Strategy Analytics. And the numbers look good: the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S each outsold Samsung’s Galaxy S III during the all-important 2012 holiday quarter.

This makes the iPhone 5 the world’s bestselling smartphone, but what’s really eyebrow-raising is that the 16-month old (and now discounted) iPhone 4S also overtook Samsung’s flagship device…